The feral fish are part of the greenhouse ecosystem. We have customers who want to buy sump fish. We're thinking of having a fish festival here once the pandemic is under control. We could offer sump fish to attendees. Charles

I wouldn't have anything to say. It'd just be endless listening.

As people may have noticed, I can talk longer than most can listen... Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 I, and I'm sure hundreds and thousands of others, would gladly take that challenge.

@@goliadfarms7029 🤣❤️🙏

One commentor objected to the term, but it is meant affectionately and our grandbrats realize that. Charles

Yes - I pointed out that out on that comment but it rapidly began entering SJW territory and thats not why any (most?) of us are here. Fishkeeping hobbyists is the main thing

Susie is like the soul of the business

Thank you. We needed the break and enjoyed the time with brats and grandbrats. Charles

Thank you. We will continue with the videos. Today we will show how we raise scuds. Charles

Yeah this is my new favorite channel!

Hasn't it!!! Soooo educational and interesting. Love it.

Thank you. Now that we are getting some experience at producing videos, we will continue making them. Charles

Thank you. We are working on recovery! Charles

Thank you. I had to check out the Walstad method. Very interesting. I'm going to have to read more about it. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 Her book is a fascinating read. It’s very in depth ( some people find it dry) and you already have so much insight that I don’t know if it’s worth you’re time, but it’s been a guiding principle in my fish keeping.

Good idea. We will do a feeding tour soon. Charles

You have to maintain a sense of humor and happiness to survive events like this. Charles

Susie (wife and business manager) finally got around to cutting my hair. I'm way too impatient to go to town and deal with barbers, so she cuts my hair and puts up with my, "Are we done yet?" Charles

There is little more comforting than the love of a good dog (I had to say "there is little more comforting" because I have a wife and would like to keep her). Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 German Shepherds of the Bay Area are thinking of you , Susie, and your beautiful working dogs Oso, and Mia.

These are nice, expensive fish. Why not increase the time you have to enjoy them. Charles

Thank you. One potential blessing of this disaster we that we discovered the benefits of having a KZfaq channel. We will be posting a lot of informational content after we complete documenting our recovery. Charles

The dogs enjoy "hunting" for fatalities in the greenhouses. Since we usually have in the order of 250,000 fish, there are always some for them to eat. Charles

Thank you. Cory and @aquariumcoop have been a huge help. I hope to get him down for another visit. Now that we are sort of mastering videography, we intend to continue even after we complete documenting our recovery. Also, after the pandemic is under control we plan on allowing hatchery visits. Charles

Nature has a way of making you humble. Charles

Thank you. We'd like to thank Cory and @aquariumcoop for their help. Charles

Thank you. Charles

Thank you. We will continue with recovery videos but also produce informational videos. We plan a video on how we produce scuds today. Charles

We will be discussing the systems more in future videos. Charles

Thank you. So are we. Charles

They were a bit damaged by the cold and some over-exposure to carbon monoxide, but they love the heat and humidity in the greenhouses. Charles

Thank you. Charles

Thank you. We will continue to document the recovery. Afterwards, we'll work on informational videos as we work on breeding fish. Charles

Thank you. Charles

Thank you. We will recover and video our progress. Charles

Thank you. We will recover. Charles

That will be a good topic for another video and we will do that. Charles

Thank you. Charles

Thank you. The break helped a lot. We intend to continue to provide informational videos on fish breeding and how we do things. Charles

Thank you for watching our videos. We have several done that will be released soon. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 love to watch so much free knowledge it’s fun I stay up all night watching

Thank you. Once the pandemic is under control we will be allowing visits. Preference to those who want to chainsaw mesquite. Charles

Thank you. Charles

Thank you. We will keep the videos coming. Charles

Thank you. We needed a short break after non-stop storm work and the beginning of recovery. Charles

Thanks! That means a lot to me. Glad you're enjoying it. Carl

Oso and Maya are very smart and sometimes listen better than our children (brats) did. Charles

In a lot of ways, it's a very simple system relying only on pumps for water movement. Charles

It is a great plant. It does really well with cichlids since it is a rootless, floating plant and they can't dig it up. It is the primary food for our scud cultures, providing habitat and food. It provides refuge for fry of all types. Charles

We are planning hardening up our systems beginning with completing the installation of our new generator. We will document the improvements. Charles

Thank you. We are looking into water heaters. The problem with this event was the simultaneous long power outages and lack of propane supply. We couldn't heat and run our generator at the same time. Charles

We use some strainers but they clog up fairly easily so we don't use then on 300-gallon breeding vats where there is a lot of water inflow. The idea of netting coils is going to be implemented shortly. Charles

Thank you. We're glad to provide information on how we do things. Charles

We got our start of hornwort from a nursery on the edge of the French Quarter years and years ago. The nursery didn't survive Hurricane Katrina. Charles

Thank you. Charles

Thank you. Hornwort is a great plant and is wonderful with cichlids since it is rootless and floats. The cichlids can't dig it up! Charles

Thank you. We are just taking it one day and fish at a time. Charles

Thank you. Charles

Thank you. Charles

Thank you. Oso and Maya are great dogs. We'll have video them trying to keep our two horses in line when they come up for oats. Charles

Good luck with your new turtle habitat! Charles

Thank you. We try to work with nature, but it does throw us a curve occasionally. Charles

Thank you. By the way, I got a start of Vanilla Bean Orchid to try out in the greenhouses since it is supposed to like high humidity and temperature. It has added some leaves, so I guess it will do well. Also, Carl is my son and is doing the videography. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 ah, ok sorry Charles. Yeah it should do great for you in greenhouse. It's a vine type plant, a slow grower at first, and when mature it will produce a white color bloom and if hand pollinated it will produce a vanilla bean or seed pod. 👍☺️

The dogs love working in the greenhouses because with 250,000 fish there are always some fatalities to eat. Charles

The "Fish Place?" We will recover and continue to document our progress. Charles

Thank you. We tired, but encouraged that we're able to rebuild some of our breeding colonies. Charles

I'll have to think about that. I recommend a lot of sun and a lot of passive exercise. Passive exercise is what you get doing what you like. Exercise for its own sake bores me. Also, I walk rather than ride. Before breakfast everyday I walk a half mile just to check the greenhouses and get the newspaper from the road. Multiple trips a dayfrom house to greenhouses add up to several miles of walking per day. We try to eat a healthy diet. Charles

I'm really looking forward to your Scud video... hope it's a long one, tell us everything you know about 'em.!

Thank you! Charles

Thank you. The feral fish become feral mainly two ways. One: since the floor of the greenhouse is a water filled gutter, any fish that is dropped or jumps becomes instantly feral. Two: feral happily spawn in the floor gutters and sumps. We sometimes harvest feral fish for wholesale customers. Also, if I see a fish that I think might improve a strain or maybe begin a new strain, we collect it. We do feed the feral fish while feeding fish in the vats. If you look back through early videos there should be one of a feral fish feeding frenzy. Charles

We are considering programs like that! Maybe a fish dude ranch. Charles

Thank you. Charles

He looks more 60

Yes, working fish every day is the Fountain of Youth! Everyone keep fish! Charles

I tried a blue bucket, but a black bucket might work better. It's frustrating that we can see the swarms of Paramecium but can't video or photograph them effectively. We should be able, it seems, to rebuild most of the breeding colonies. It does appear that we have lost at least a year's worth of future revenues, but we will recover. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 Another option is a clear container against a plain background, dark or light depending on what might show the cloudiness better, probably dark. Just thought of it. 😊

I'm not sure. I will place a leaf in a scud vat to see if they eat it. I also have some dried leaves and will see what they do with them. I have noticed that guppy and molly fry like to stay on top of a leaf that is just floating under the surface of the water. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 my Least Killifish (Heterandria Formosa) do the same thing when I put in Almond or Banana leaves!

Nature can throw the occasional curveball. After we get our new generator fully installed we should be ready for spring thunderstorm power outages and possible summer hurricanes. Our greenhouses are effectively internal wetlands with plenty of plants to handle any normal situations. We can't use outside wetlands because even in our mild climate outside winter water temperatures are too low for tropical fish. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 I appreciate you letting me know that I wish you the best of luck love your videos love what you do you are truly a very gifted breeder and fish keeper I would love to get a few pairs of guppies from you males and females I don’t care what they look like they don’t have to be anything special let me know if we can work something out you could email me at brianbikelife@gmail.com I look forward To hear from you thank you have a blessed one

Things are looking up! Charles

Thank you. We have sold feral fish to wholesale customers in the past. We are working on how best to offer them to hobbyists. Charles

We really only try to harvest the feral fish when a customer wants a bunch of them or I see a fish I want to use in our breeding programs. It's very easy to feed them and they don't require any care other than food. Charles

We are working on some way to pick up on video what we can see live. When we do, we'll post it. Charles

We had vented greenhouse heaters (fairly expensive) that were destroyed by Hurricane Harvey. They were overkill for every winter but this one. The big problems with this event were two weeks of cloudy weather so our greenhouses didn't get solar heat gain, record cold for much longer than we've ever experienced, long power outages, and propane shortages that made it difficult to heat while also running our generator. We are working on hardening up our systems, but the combination of events leading to this disaster isn't likely to occur again. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 I would beg to differ as the worlds climates are changing year by year. Especially here in north America. Weather patterns aren't the same and it's always best to have. More than one system to maintain the desired effect. But charles thanks for your reply and I hope you recover. P.s. if our government and military rely on redundancy why shouldn't you? If the grid goes down again next winter, propane sky rockets, another arctic blast comes down south can you really rely on this to. Pull through this is just the beginning of a weather system that is new. I hope you survive and you truly are a bright and intelligent man and I respect you sir for your efforts and respecting nature for your benefit.

There were some incredible sump fish, but many of them died. Charles

Thank you. KZfaq just approved us for monetization. I apologize for the ads that are apparently beginning to run. We will continue providing content for revenue to carry us through the next year since we have essentially lost a year's worth of future revenue due to fish losses. Susie and Carl are already pressuring me to raise fewer of many more types of fish to provide content. I like raising more of fewer types since large numbers of fish allow my breeding programs more raw material for strain improvement. I suppose I must change with the times. But, maybe I can talk Susie into another greenhouse? Charles

100%

He looks younger then aquarium coop Cory and he's 34

Thank you. Birthday: August 12, 1050. Charles

Thank you. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 You look great for being almost 1000 years old! 😉

I'll have to look into that. We have Philodendron growing in our yard. We'll see if it survived the storm. It survived 13F about 10 years ago. I just looked up "variegated monstera deliciosa" on EBay. Those are some high prices! Charles

Snails can be annoyance. We reduce populations of pond snails and red ramshorns by netting when we process vats every 3-4 months. 55-gallon vats with cichlids are clear of those two species since the fish are crowded and eat egg cases and small snails. The comments about birth control for Gold Mystery Snails was a bit tongue-in-cheek. We sell a lot of them and control is simple since they lay egg cases above the water line. Susie doesn't like them in 300-gallon breeding vats, since large numbers of them make fish sorting slower, so we are removing them as we go through those vats. The most annoying snails are tiny trumpet snails that most fish won't eat. They are the perfect size to clog the strainers we put on vats to prevent fry from leaving the vats. The snails clog the strainers and cut your finger when you sitck it in to clear the clogs. Your suggest for trapping the snails is good except that we have over 700 vats. That's a lot of string, carrots, and potatoes, not to mention the labor. We've learned to live with the snails. We can't use any chemical snail control because we raise some snails and some invertebrates that would be killed. Having a large recirculating system precludes tank-by-tank treatment. Charles

We built our first greenhouse in Santa Fe. New Mexico in 1997. In 2000 we built Greenhouse 1 here on our Texas farm that has been in the family since 1870. We completed our move from Sante Fe in 2001. In summer of 2003 Hurricane Claudetter destroyed Greenhouse 1. We hurriedly build Greenhouse 2 before cold weather arrived and moved the surviving fish into it. In 2004 we rebuilt Greenhouse 1. Both Greenhouse 1 and Greenhouse two are ~3,000 sq. ft. We added the smaller Greenhouse 3 (~1,800 sq. ft.) in 2014. The genesis of our recirculation systems with plant filtration was in the late 1970s when I built a 30 10-gallon aquarium prototype in a spare bedroom. Charles

We just checked ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate this morning. Both greenhouses are almost zero ammonia now (less than 0.05 ppm). They spiked about a week and a half ago as 1ppm ammonia. Nitrite is both greenhouses is zero. Nitrate is 10-20 ppm in Greenhouse 1 and 20-40 ppm in Greenhouse 2. The plant filters and associated bacterial colonies have done their assigned work. I estimate that we add several hundred gallons of water a day due to operational and evaporative losses. Since we have 75,000 gallons of water in the systems, that's less than 1% daily additions. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 impressive, so do your nitrates generally run less than 20 ppm under normal circumstances?

I need to write up a description of the first recirculation system with plant filtration that I first set up in a spare bedroom in the 1970s. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 My game plan is to do rack systems feeding/recirculating into 200+ gallon tubs at the end of each rack.

I had two siphons between tanks for that reason. Redundancy is critical when flooding could occur. One reasons we went from galvanized channel gutters to floor gutters was leaks, overflows, and flooding. Our systems have evolved to minimize problems. Charles

The floor is flat. The pond liners on three sides prevent outflow, with the only place water can to is into the sump. Charles

We do sell them both wholesale and to online customers, but have suspended sales until we complete our inventories and finish rebuilding breeding colonies. We don't presently ship to Canada. Last time we looked into shipping there, it seemed a bit too onerous. We'd need a Canadian business license and a USDA import/export license. We are open to suggestions how to ship there without too much hassle. Charles

When I speak at clubs and take fish along, we pack the fish in bags with oxygen. When we go on collecting trips, we do the same. Charles

After 20+ years, we haven't had to do change out pipes. The buildup of calcium carbonate seems to only occur where evaporation happens, such as where water flows down the side of vat. We do get some buildup on straners, but that can be cleared by soaking them in dilute muriactic acid (HCl). Charles

The floor of the greenhouses is native soil with a layer of sand for leveling. Placed over that sand is an aquaculture grade pond liner. The liner is fastened to the four-foot high side rails of the greenhouse. At the entrance of Greenhouse 1 there is a concrete pad that the liner laps over a bit. In Greenhouse 2 we used 8"x8"x16" hollow concrete blocks instead of poured concrete and covered the blocks with pond liner. The sumps in each greehouse are four feet deep, dug out with a backhoe and lined with 8"x8"x16" hollow concrete blocks filled with sand and held in place with 7 foot t-posts. The sump is lined with pond liner. The floor gutter pond liner overlaps the sump liner. Next time we video our recirculating and plant filtration systems, I'll make sure to highlight all of this since I've finally discovered that a minute of video is worth pages of typing. Also, when we rebuild Greenhouse 3 (I hope this summer), we'll video document the entire process. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 Most impressive! Thank you for the lenghty answer and I will eagerly watch those upcomming videos! ;)

The large plants are not potted. We simply drop a stalk between the vats and let it root and grow. Periodically we have to pull the plants out since they begin to interfere with water overflow fittings and piping. Next time we do that, we'll video that process. The liners are very tough. The liners are similar to the liners used in the oil field to line brine ponds and oil slush. They have been manufactured to be aquaculture friendly, meaning they don't shed a lot of formaldehyde. Root cannot penetrate the liners unless there is a hole. The liners are very puncture proof. The liners in Greenhouse 2 have been in place since 2003. Those in Greenhouse 1 since 2004. Greenhouse 1 was destroyed by Hurricane Claudette in 2003 and was rebuilt in 2004. Greenhouse 2 was built after the hurricane and before winter to move the surviving fish from Greenhouse 1 before it got too cold. Charles

There are a number of aquaculture supply companies selling fish quality pond liners. We currently buy from a local company whose main business is selling liners to oil and gas drilling companies. Search for "aquaculture pond liners." Charles

We've looked into solar and haven't found it to be economically feasible so far. But we are working with an electrical engineer friend to revisit solar. He has his own solar array nearby. An issue is that our local electric coop has low rates. That is good, but also means that power we sell back to them is also at a very low rate. We are looking into using solar panels for heating water in the winter and cooling water in the summer without connecting to the grid. Charles

Those are "fry cages." They are large cylinders with a bottom. They are on stilts to keep them off the bottom and to provide hideouts for larger fish. Fry and juveniles as well as livebearers in with cichlids use the fry cages as refuges. We place two of them in each 300-gallong breeding vat. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 Cool! Thank you.

We do sell some hornwort. But, when we "throw it away," we are placing it on litterworm beds where it is converted to wonderful compost. We also fed surplus to our scuds which provide a significant revenue stream. The problem wasn't heating capacity as much as the lack of grid power and shortages of propane for our generator. We weren't able to run all our electric heaters due to lack of power. Charles

We occasionally drape a net in the sumps to get the fish used to it and then feed above it and harvest the sump fish. We have certain customers who await that. Charles

Right, the glimps of all those colors makes you curious.

Yes. Water leaving the greenhouses flows out through screened pipes into an isolated wetland that is populated with water hungry Black Willows. In our hot, dry climate the "wetland" quickly dries out. Charles

Yes, it is. Any plant that will grow roots into the water and grow fast is feeding on ammonia. A great plant to use inside is Pothos (house ivy) because it doesn't need a lot of light and still grows rapidly. Charles

Oso is a great dog, but so is Maya. Someday I'm going to film them playing chase with each other in the morning. Charles

Yea that that would be a nice intro to a video.

We added vats as we needed. We started in Santa Fe, NM in 1997 a 1,500 sq. ft. greenhouse with 200 barrels. We acquired those barrels from a recycler over a period of a few weeks. When we moved here in 2000-2001, our first greenhouse was 3,000 sq. ft. with about 400 barrels. We moved the barrels from Santa Fe and added the other 200 over a period of weeks from a recycler in San Antonio. When we built Greenhouse 2 in 2003, we moved those vats from the destroyed Greenhouse 1 (thanks to Hurricane Claudette). We rebuilt Greenhouse 1 in 2004 to it's current configuration with 240 55-gallon barrels and 28 300-gallon vats acquired from Tractor Supply. Later we reconfigured Greenhouse 2 to have 160 55-gallon barrels, 23 110 gallon vats (also from Tractor Supply), and 30 300-gallon vats. We have various other vats (45-gallon, 600-gallon, 1200-gallon, etc.) acquired over the years that were in the now temporarily decommissioned Greenhouse 3 and outside locations. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 Thanks for the reply, very cool!

The only time we had to medicate the entire system was when somehow Chilodonella got into the system. We cured that by adding solar salt to 6ppt and added a few grams of malachite green (which we don't like using since it damages Nitorsomas and Nitrobacter that control ammonia and its metabolites). Solar salt is cheap. We do feed praziquantel as a preventative wormer a couple of times a year. A kilogram lasts a couple of years. Charles

Yes, we'll schedule a Red Cherry Shrimp video showing how we culture them with livebearers. Charles

The plants inbetween the vats are just in water and not potted. We just drop a stalk between the vats and they root rapidly. Their roots do collect mulm and convert it into very rich soil. Next time we pull some plants out, we'll video the process and show how they are growing. Charles

What's this plants called and other plants that works to control water parameters

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is illegal in Texas with high fines per plant crown. That's a bit ridiculous since it is established in all the Texas coastal streams from Mexico to Louisiana. It was our workhouse plant in our greenhouse in when we were located in Santa Fe, New Mexico where it is not illegal. I will look into kangkong. It looks like an interesting plant. The large leaved tall plant in our greenhouses is Piper auritum (oja santa), a Central American herb. In Austin and Houston the leaves sell for $0.50 to $1.00 each. We probably should develop a market for them (Susie: hint! hint!) Charles

Yes, everytime I feed the fish in the vats I toss food between the vats into the floor gutters and also into the sumps. But, don't tell Susie (wife and business manager) that. She thinks our food budget is too high already. Charles